Chapter 27

Donnie and Katie arrived at Ardbrecknish to spend the weekend. Snow had started to fall heavily, another sign perhaps that the climate was changing. Katie made a bee-line for the house that had been allocated to her mother and sister, who had stayed on after the clan gathering. Donnie decided to take the opportunity of catching up with a number of key people that he had neglected over the past few weeks because of his commitment to campaigning for the SNP.

Donnie's first call was at his parents' house. His mother was pleased to see him, but groused about the fact that Donnie had spent so much time on the road during the referendum campaign.

"But it was worth it in the end, mom," Donnie defended himself. "We secured a 'yes' vote for independence and that surely means that my time was well spent?"

"A 'yes' vote is all very well and good, young man," Mairi chided. "Just remember that you have other responsibilities and you have to be careful lest people think you are shirking them!"

Donnie put his arm round her in a hug.

"That's one of the things I like most about you, mom. You never let people forget what's expected of them."

"Quite right too!" Mairi nodded.

"I was looking for dad," said Donnie. "Any idea where he might be?"

"The last I saw of him, he was going off to look at the canning plant with young Vivien," said Mairi. "I think she wanted to try and dismantle parts of the system to see how they work. That girl!"

Donnie laughed and started walking towards the silo that had been altered to accommodate the canning facility at its base. Halfway towards it, he met his father coming the other way. Douglas waved.

"Hi, dad. How are things?" asked Donnie.

Douglas waved around him at the falling snow.

"It's at times like these that I realise just how good your idea for growing crops actually is," said Douglas. "Look at this, snow in September! All of our crops are thriving though, especially with the fertiliser that Heather worked on."

"Have you left Vivien up to her elbows in oil and grease again?" Douglas asked.

"Let me tell you, that girl is going to save us a fortune on maintenance bills," said Douglas. "There doesn't seem to be anything that she can't figure out in a flash – she's a mechanical genius!"

Donnie's heart warmed to see his father so happy and animated. He hadn't realised just how much the strain of running Craig Bheithe farm at a loss over the past two years had been. Douglas almost looked as if he was five years younger.

Donnie's next port of call was to silo #8 to see how Professor White was getting on with the recycling plant. Donnie knew that Bill had ripped up the contract for the first contractor who had been supplying sub-standard steel. A second, more expensive, but higher quality contractor had been taken on. Donnie hoped that had made a difference in terms of the speed of progress.

Entering the dome above silo #8, Donnie walked along the path that ran around the perimeter towards where the elevator was situated. This dome was somewhat unique in that it contained living accommodation inside it, as well as a number of fruit orchards. Entering the elevator, he pressed to descend to the floor of the silo and watched as the layers and layers of pods flashed in front of him. These pods weren't growing wheat, but Donnie couldn't quite make out what the plants were.

He saw Bill White talking to Heather over by the large recycling structure and crossed to speak to them both.

"Good morning you two," said Donnie.

"Ah, it's our Lord and Master gracing us with his presence!" joked Heather.

"I believe congratulations are in order," Donnie told her. "Your ideas for producing natural fertiliser are producing great results apparently."

"She's been a fantastic help here too," added Bill.

Heather flushed a little at the praise.

"It certainly looks as if you're making much better progress," Donnie observed.

"We're just completing the final checks before we sign-off on the construction phase," Bill advised. "After that we're planning a couple of months of trials to make sure it works properly. We'll start off small and work our way up to complex compounds."

"That's great news!" said a delighted Donnie.

"You've every right to be proud," said Bill. "It was your original concept after all."

After some further discussion over what the trials of the recycling plant would involve, Donnie left silo #8 in search of Archie Roy, his head of Security. He came across Mark Petrie, one of Archie's security staff, but he had no idea where his boss might be. Giving up for the moment, Donnie decided to drop in on Eric and Louise instead, only to find that Archie was with them in Eric's apartment.

"Aha! I've been looking for you," said Donnie. "Nobody knew where you were."

"You should have called my mobile," said Archie, offering an obvious solution.

"Doh!" exclaimed Donnie.

"Was there anything in particular that you wanted me for?" asked Archie.

"No, I'm just trying to make sure I touch base with everyone over the course of the weekend," Donnie replied. "I've been out of circulation a little because of the referendum campaign."

"Good result by the way," Archie offered.

Before Donnie could thank Archie, Eric butted in.

"It might have been a good result, but it might not deliver what he's expecting," said the geek.

"What do you mean?" asked Donnie.

"Independence," said Eric. "The referendum might have voted 'yes', but that still might not result in independence."

Donnie couldn't quite figure out what Eric was getting at.

"I don't follow you," he said. "The public voted for independence, why shouldn't they get it?

"Louise and I were just looking at some of the latest stuff I've picked up from the MI5 system." Said Eric. "Unless I miss my guess, it looks like the UK Government is getting ready to play hard ball."

"What makes you say that," asked a now very interested Donnie.

"Have a look," offered Eric.

He pushed himself to one side so that Donnie could see the computer screen. The image was of an e-mail from Malloy.

To: Heads of Section From: Malloy Subject: Intelligence briefing for COBRA

We have been asked to pull together an intelligence briefing for a meeting of the COBRA emergency committee. The briefing needs to cover likely security issues that will arise if and when the Government refuses to allow Scottish independence to proceed. Please cover all possible scenarios.
Malloy

Donnie was appalled.

"But they can't refuse!" he spluttered. "They can't ignore the will of the Scottish electorate!"

"Reading between the lines, I think that's exactly what Westminster intends to do," Eric disagreed.

"But that will cause chaos! Riots!" Donnie argued. "How can they claim to be a democratic government? Shit!"

"The bottom line is that they have the authority," said Louise. "I believe they could actually legislate and revoke the Scotland Act and that would actually take away the Scottish Parliament as well."

Donnie was thinking furiously. He was sure that this was something that he had to share with the First Minister as quickly as possible. If Alex Salmond didn't already known what the Westminster Government intended, then warning him might somehow give him a slight edge in how he responded when Westminster did show its hand. The only problem was ... how did he explain how he knew?

He decided that he could do worse than ask for advice from the people in the room with him at that moment.

"Listen, I think I need to warn the First Minister about this," he started. "The only thing is that I would need to have a good explanation for where I got the information from. Any ideas?"

Archie, Eric and Louise thought about Donnie's question.

"Couldn't you just claim that you've heard a rumour?" asked Archie.

"Why not just claim to have a relative who works in Westminster?" suggested Louise.

"I could probably fake an e-mail," said Eric. "Heck, I could probably hack into a Westminster department and really send you an e-mail. That way you could show the e-mail as evidence."

Donnie thought that would work.

"Could you do that now?" he asked.

"Any preference for which department you want it to come from?" asked Eric?

Donnie had to think about that for a moment.

"Which departments would know about this?" he thought aloud. "The Home Office would probably be best. Can you do that? Could you send me an e-mail from the Home Office?"

"Easy," said Eric. "Some of the MI5 traffic has gone there, so I've already got a trail in. What do you want it to say?"

"I guess we need to make it different to Malloy's," said Donnie. "If it gets out, we don't want to run the risk that Malloy could be alerted. Why not have it say something similar. It's likely that quite a few people have been asked to prepare briefings."

Eric started typing.

"How about this?" he asked.

Donnie looked at the screen.

Donnie Thought you would want to know that it looks as if the independence vote is going to be ignored. We've been asked to prepare a briefing on what the legal and political implications will be if Westminster refuses to accept the outcome of the referendum. I'll be back in Scotland next month. Maybe catch up with you then. Rab

"That looks perfect," said Donnie. "How long will it take you to hack into the system so that you can send it?"

Eric didn't answer. Instead his fingers began flying across his keyboard again. Donnie, Archie and Louise exchanged glances and smiled. It seemed Eric was showing off a little by hacking into the Home Office system while they watched.

"There, done," said Eric smugly.

"Amazing, you truly are amazing, Eric," said Donnie.

Fishing his new iPhone out of his pocket, Donnie checked his mail and saw that Eric's little gift was there in his in-box. The origin of the e-mail was quite clearly the Home Office from the sender's address.

"Okay, I can use that," he confirmed. "I need to act on this as quickly as possible. If anything else comes up, make sure you get it to me!"

With that, Donnie rushed from Eric's apartment.

"Well that certainly seems to have set the cat amongst the pigeons," suggested Eric.